Ultimately, the United States government won in its attempt to extradite Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from the United Kingdom.
Is that the UK High Court overturned a previous ruling and paved the way for the United States to lead him to testify to Washington.
Last January, a London court rejected a US request for Assange to be extradited to face espionage charges. The argument was a problem of mental health and of “clinical depression” that could be aggravated if it was extradited. There was talk of “suicide possibilities,” according to the ruling of District Judge Vanessa Baraitser.
The US government appealed the decision and this Friday, December 10, a UK High Court overturned that ruling. He did so after the United States assured that Assange will not face strict prison conditions or solitary confinement.
According to the argument of the Supreme Court, “that risk [el de suicidio] it does not exist because of the guarantees offered by the United States ”. “We are satisfied and there are guarantees,” he adds.
US indicts Assange on 17 counts of espionage and a malicious computer use charge for WikiLeaks’ publication of leaked military and diplomatic documents. There, US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2010 and 2011 were detailed.
The charges could lead Assange to a maximum sentence of 170 years in jail.
The case is now in the hands of the UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel, who will have to make the final decision on extradition. But in Justice, the way is already clear.
WikiLeaks reaction: Assange may be extradited
After the ruling, the editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, Kristinn Hrafnsson, expressed in a public statement that “once again Julian’s life is under serious threat”, in the same way as “the right of journalists to publish material that governments and corporations consider inconvenient.”
“This is the right of a free press to publish without being threatened by an intimidating superpower,” he added.
Assange, 50, an Australian-born citizen, is now expected to appeal this determination before being extradited.